Chuseok: A lazy day picnic for Thanksgiving.
Korean life October 6th. 2006, 7:35pmWe’re doing something different for Chuseok this year. Instead of going to relatives houses for Korean Thanksgiving, we’re spending the time hanging out at our own apartment. This is because there is no easy solution to the transportation and housing of our dog. Grandma’s not the kind to allow dogs inside, and it’s plenty crowded in that small house without Yoshi’s cage taking up some more space. We also didn’t take kindly to the suggestion made by our Grandmother that we should just leave the dog at home a few days. She said it wouldn’t die of starvation after a day. Yeah, Grandma’s a country girl all right.
Everything being closed in the city, and with few taxis on the street, our entertainment options were limited. We had talked about a trip to the mountain, but after packing and starting off on the long hike to the bus stop, we had second thoughts. We didn’t know if dogs were allowed in the actual park on the mountain. Also, an hour on a bus round trip with a dog didn’t sound that much fun.
We went to buy some pork and have a cook out near the river since the weather was fantastic. Incredibly, we’ve been living by the river for a few months now and haven’t had a single picnic! We’ve been too busy and tired. We had been given a portable gas range by our Mother-in-law, and today we put it to good use. We had some problems at first. We had to set up the burner, but with a curious dog about to burn it’s face off, we needed to plan. I pulled over a heavy hunk of metal and concrete that acted as a place to tie Yoshi’s leash so he wouldn’t hurt himself or run off while we ate.
As we ate, dogs of different breeds would walk by, grabbing Yoshi’s attention. He’s just a puppy, but he’s bigger than any of the toy breeds and all of the dogs of his own breed that he meets. We eventually cleaned up and let him meet a few new pups. As my wife supervised Yoshi’s play date, I napped and thought about the safety, security, and care free nature of Korean society.
I was sitting in park, having cooked with an open flame, drank a beer in a public area, and let my dog run around without a leash meeting strangers. I could even nap outdoors, full on pork and beer and not worry about someone coming along and trying to steal something. Any one of these things could have got me in trouble in the United States. As long as you aren’t bothering people here, no one cares what you do. It’s liberating.
Here are some shots from the camera and phone from today:
3 Responses to “Chuseok: A lazy day picnic for Thanksgiving.”
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October 6th, 2006 at 11:27 pm
Your reflection is interesting. So, is there no personal theft in Korea at all? I’d find that hard to believe. I think you just live, or were picnicing, in a safe area. Although I’ve never been to Korea so this is just my wrong-headed American assumption. But, since it is an American assumption, by logical deduction, it must be correct >:0
I also find the level of pork consumption in Korea fascinating.
October 7th, 2006 at 6:19 am
I would agree that Korea is very safe. Of course there is plenty of crime but my impression is that it is more fraud/conmen than violence. I would also say that random violence is quite rare.
October 7th, 2006 at 12:30 pm
I knew someone that got paid in cash from his school, went to the bar with the money in his bag. Worked at the bar (second job) all night with about 2000 dollars sitting in his bag. Bag was left in the bar over night when he went home. He forgot about it. No one looked inside. The bag was returned to him unopened. Tell me that would happen at any bar in the United States and I’d be very surprised. Outright theft just doesn’t happen very often between Koreans. Most people assume everyone knows Tae Kwon Do and can kick your ass I guess.
Personal theft isn’t very common here at all. Muggings are probably more common in bigger cities, but other than random drunks, they don’t happen in much frequency that I hear about. Organized crime occurs, but no one has guns here, and that’s a very good thing. There also isn’t a significant drug problem here. Nearly all violence problems are alcohol related violence/domestic violence sorts of things.
Daejeon had a serial rapist a few years ago, but they eventually caught him. I’m sure that was a tense time, and people might have worried about personal safety, but it’s never been a concern of mine in Korea.